Dude’s Chronicles 12-7-2014: Destiny Delivers Woes Not Wows

The Master Chief Collection still hasn’t been getting much play time. I’ve gotten half way through the first campaign and I still can’t get into playing it. But I did make the video above. Maybe you can hear my sense of frustration. For so long I’ve taken things like ADS and sprinting for granted in games. It is somewhat humbling to go back to the old Halo mechanics.

Dear Bungie, please stop ruining your own game! Recent updates to Destiny have made some good changes but also some bad ones. Even some of the announcements for The Dark Below are questionable.

Exotics will be upgradable but the cost may make doing so prohibitive. Ascendant materials are no longer required for upgrades on exotics but the newly introduced Exotic shard is. You will also need these exotic shards to buy the upgrade for your exotic item. However, if you plan to upgrade an exotic you best be prepared to pay a heavy cost. To get the upgrade from our favorite merchant Xur you will need not only an exotic shard but also 7,000 glimmer. If that was not enough, your weapon will be reset and you will need to apply all the upgrades again. Therefore you will need the XP, materials, and another shard to re-upgrade your item.

The first item I want to upgrade is my favorite weapon, the Ice Breaker. Therefore I have to plan to have at least two exotic shards, probably about 10,000 glimmer(7,000 for the upgrade and more to pay for upgrades during the re-upgrading process), weapon parts, and planetary material. I have two fully leveled Ice Breakers, after this I will only be keeping one and will break the other down. The thought of having one for each character has been abandoned and the hassle of swapping will have to continue.

Just as a side discussion, here is a list of currency(things you must earn and/or spend) within the game:

XP

Glimmer

Motes of Light

Strange Coins

Spinmetal

Helium

Spirit Blooms

Relic Iron

Weapon Parts

Hadronic Essence

Plasteel Plating

Sapphire Wire

Ascendant Energy

Ascendant Shards

Exotic Shards

Crucible Reputation

Crucible Commendations

Crucible Marks

Vanguard Reputation

Vanguard Commendations

Vanguard Marks

Iron Banner Reputation

Radiant Energy

Radiant Shards

Perhaps more annoying is some of the other changes coming with The Dark Below expansion. Nightfall and Heroic strikes will now be two levels higher(30 and 24/26/28, respectively). There is reasoning to be recognized that this will keep the game challenging given the new light and weapon levels. On the other hand, this is yet another crutch keeping casual players down. Many of these players don’t have the equipment to do these strikes now and the new level will make it absolutely prohibitive. The other questionable decision involves the new raid. On some levels it makes sense to have it be a level 30 event but this again will prohibit some players from even entering it. One item I can’t find reason for yet is that the hard mode of the new raid will be level 33 but the light level cap is 32. Is this an attempt my Bungie to slow players down from attaining the plunders of the harder challenge? Or is there another mechanism coming that will allow a player to be level 33 before the second expansion arrives?

In speaking with other players, there seems to be two camps in this game now: those excited for the new content and those who are quitting the game. Lovers and followers of the game are excited and want more. They are digging in their heals getting ready for the new fight. Most other people see Bungie making it even harder to get anywhere in the game. They don’t have the time to continuously grind to get newer and better gear. These players are keen on abandoning the game completely. I am wavering somewhere in the middle of this. The decision to stay in this game or move on will be based on what The Dark Below delivers and how the changes effect the game.

Paul Novak is a self described Polish ninja toiling away as an IT professional but more into gaming and writing. Physically existing in the west side of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania yet existentially flowing with the ether of the Internet. Found here at What’s Your Tag? and on the Twitter @dudewantshisrug. Game on with Team XBRO!